'78 storm froze Valley

Michigan is no stranger to severe winter storms, but this January marks the 30th anniversary of one of the worst on record -- the Blizzard of 1978.

Those who experienced the ordeal might still shiver from memories of the intense cold.

The storm began on the night of Wednesday, Jan. 25, when about 9 inches of snow settled over most of the state. The following day, 5 more inches landed on the heap as temperatures hovered around zero degrees.

On the 26th, the state put 20 counties -- including Saginaw -- under "red alert" status, meaning only emergency traffic was permitted on primary and secondary roads, with freeways featuring only one open lane.

At best, highway traffic moved at a pace of 10 mph, with sections of Interstates 75 and 96 closed entirely. Abandoned cars lined the sides of the blanketed streets as a mixture of snow and freezing rain turned the landscape to slush.

Power outages were frequent, particularly in rural areas, with even police stations and hospitals falling victim, forcing nurses and attendants at Huron Memorial Hospital in Bad Axe to deliver a baby by flashlight at 3 a.m. Jan. 26.

Hundreds of schools closed. Michigan State University closed for only the third time in its 123-year history. State office buildings also shut, with officials in Lansing declaring a state of emergency.

Locally, Tri-City Airport -- now MBS International Airport -- closed the night of Jan. 25. The following day, Benjamin L. Schrader, chairman of the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners, declared a snow emergency.

The Saginaw Post Office canceled mail deliveries on both Jan. 26 and 27. All 12 of Saginaw's General Motors Corp. plants closed from the 26th through third shift on Sunday, the 29th. In that span, only the bravest of independent businesses, retail stores and restaurants opened, their profits understandably sparse.

Retired Saginaw Police Officer Richard A. Mallette, now of Thomas Township, worked the afternoon shift on both Jan. 26 and 27.

"The first day was real nasty," Mallette said.

He said rather than heading for the Police Department, officers congregated at fire stations, which were better supplied, particularly with food.

"We didn't go out unless we had to," Mallette recalled. "If you were hurt or needed to get to a hospital, we'd get to you. Otherwise, we just stayed at the station. We had chains on our tires, but they didn't help. It was so bad tow trucks couldn't move. I mean, you could go, but you couldn't stop. If you stopped, you were stuck."

One benefit of the weather was decreased criminal activity. "Crime was nil," Mallette said.

In the midst of the chaos, Gov. William G. Milliken activated a 14-member National Guard unit from the Saginaw Armory. Guard members combined with local law officers and emergency workers to rescue stranded citizens and escort medical professionals to hospitals.

Lyle R. Cousins, a 39-year veteran of the Thomas Township Fire Department and its former assistant fire chief, remembers National Guard members staying with him at the station, 8215 Shields.

"They had a half-track truck," Cousins said, "with air let out of the tires to get better traction in the snow."

For food, one of the Thomas Township firefighters ventured to the Texan Family Restaurant at 5656 State in Saginaw Township -- one of the few open restaurants -- and filled a three-pound coffee can with chili.

City and county road crews struggled nonstop to clear secondary roads, though even four-wheel-drive vehicles and snowplows were not exempt from the ravages of the storm, some becoming trapped in the snowbanks like any other car.

"There weren't SUVs then," said Tom McIntyre, who was a lieutenant for the Saginaw County Sheriff's Department at the time and now is director of Central Dispatch in Saginaw, "and not many 4x4s or snowmobiles. The prime concern was getting essential services (doctors, nurses, fellow officers) to work. We would coordinate with the Saginaw County Road Commission, and they would send a plow in front of us if we had somewhere specific to be."

Civilians with four-wheel-drive vehicles and other helpful drivers volunteered their services, but "they were few and far between," McIntyre said.

Several deaths were attributed to the blizzard, mostly from heart attacks. One senior citizen in Saginaw County and two in Midland County died from heart attacks suffered while shoveling snow from their driveways.

It wasn't until Monday, Jan. 30, that business returned to usual in Michigan, as schools, state offices and factories reopened, the roads freshly cleared.

Could such a devastating blizzard happen again?

"A storm like that is incredibly rare," said Cindy L. Althoff, weekend meteorologist for Channel 5, WNEM-TV. "One a century is a steady pace. A foot of snow is hard (to get), more is difficult."

Richard B. Pollman, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in White Lake, agreed.

Yet just 11 years before the Blizzard of '78 -- to the day -- raged the Blizzard of 1967, covering Saginaw with 23 inches of snow.

What made the 1978 storm significant was that it had the lowest pressure in the history of the eastern Great Lakes. At Houghton Lake in the northern Lower Peninsula, the barometer registered 28.59, the lowest on record at the time. The average barometric pressure for that time of year is 29.92. The lower the pressure, the more violent the storm.

"There might have been more snow (in 1967)," Pollman said, "but not as much wind. The central pressure wasn't as deep."

What caused such drastically low pressure?

A strong jet stream moving north from Texas and another heading east from Canada and Montana joined over the Great Lakes, Pollman said, "forming a very strong low pressure system."

While it's not impossible for a similar storm to strike mid-Michigan, the odds are against it.